


(you don't have to) Say Anything

by justmemythoughtsandi



Category: Psych (TV 2006)
Genre: (as in there are 2 little flashbacks), Angst, Fluff, Humor, Humour, M/M, Shawngus, Shus, Young!Gus, young!shawn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-15 11:34:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28812753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justmemythoughtsandi/pseuds/justmemythoughtsandi
Summary: "Let's run away."Shawn nearly scares Gus out of his skin when his head pops over the edge of his bedroom window.Trying to regain the delicate emotional equilibrium he strives to maintain, Gus takes a deep breath, nostrils flaring."Your parents fighting again?"Shawn sighs, flopping down onto the carpeted floor. "Mom is staying at Aunt Debbie's for a few days."Gus mulls this over."...Okay," he concedes. Shawn does look pretty pitiful after all. "But let's make sandwiches to take with us first."-In which people should really stop running away from their feelings, metaphorically or otherwise.
Relationships: Burton "Gus" Guster/Shawn Spencer
Comments: 10
Kudos: 39





	(you don't have to) Say Anything

**1990**

"Let's run away." 

Shawn nearly scares Gus out of his skin when his head pops over the edge of his bedroom window. 

Trying to regain the delicate emotional equilibrium he strives to maintain, Gus takes a deep breath, nostrils flaring.

"Your parents fighting again?" 

Shawn sighs, flopping down onto the carpeted floor. "Mom is staying at Aunt Debbie's for a few days." 

Gus mulls this over. 

"...Okay," he concedes. Shawn does look pretty pitiful after all. "But let's make sandwiches to take with us first." 

Shawn leaps up, suddenly full of cheer as he helps (or, more accurately, hinders) Gus with his packing. 

"Are you gonna bring anything?" 

Shawn merely shakes his head. 

"Nah, I don't need anything. Just you," he assures him. "...and some sandwiches." 

Gus nods in agreement, and slings his backpack over his shoulder as they head for the kitchen. 

**1995**

By now Gus has learned not to accept Shawn's own special brand of assistance. Instead he's lying splayed out on Gus' bed while Gus himself puts the finishing touches into packing his things, arranging his Ziploc bags of snacks for the journey to campus. 

Usually, Shawn would mock him by pointing out that it really wasn't _that_ far away. Today, he remains strangely silent on the subject. 

"So... You excited to have fun _experimenting_ in college?" Shawn jokes, wagging his eyebrows as he tosses a paper ball in the air repeatedly.

Gus rolls his eyes. "Shawn." 

"Right. Sorry." Shawn seems... Contrite, or something. Which is a first. But the morose look vanishes after a brief moment, replaced with an infectious grin. "But college girls, eh?" 

Gus merely shakes his head and ignores him. 

"You still haven't told me what _you're_ gonna do," he points out. 

"I dunno. Skipping town is sounding pretty good right now," Shawn mumbles distractedly, rolling the ball around in his hands. 

"You should go." 

Shawn looks taken aback, eyes wide, brow slightly furrowed. "I should?" 

"Yeah," Gus insists, zipping up his final bag and giving it one final pat for good measure. "A vacation sounds fun." 

Shawn turns to stare out the window and nods thoughtfully. 

Little does Gus know how much he'll come to regret those words. 

**2008**

When Gus finally manages to pry himself away from Shawn's lecherous grasp, he hightails it to the kitchen; and as his mother opens the fridge, he starts pulling out the cutlery. 

"I see you escaped," she comments, giving him a long look, which he chooses to ignore. It's not his fault Shawn is needy and that his grabby hands know no shame. 

It's also not his fault that Shawn still regularly crashes the weekly Guster family dinners. No matter how many disapproving looks the Gusters send his way, Shawn remains unswayed and as dedicated to eating Mrs Guster's baked goods every Sunday as ever. 

"Sometimes I swear it's like that boy's half in love with you. I used to worry you'd marry him someday," she remarks. Her tone is somewhat muffled by the fridge, but he still hears her words loud and clear. He takes in the Black Forest gateau she puts on the counter for a moment. 

More often than not, Shawn retorts to these comments. But since it's his own mother and Shawn isn't even in the room, Gus decides he should probably take the reigns on this one.

Gus waits until she's gotten the ice-cream out of the freezer and places it alongside the cake. 

"Shawn, settle down? That'll be one cold day in hell," he replies, just as Shawn walks in from the dining room. Too late to help them prepare dessert, but perfectly able to help them carry cake and steal a cherry. Auspiciously timed, as always. 

Whether or not Shawn eavesdropped, he still affirms Gus' statement with "that's me, confirmed bachelor!" in a confident voice and with a bounce in his gait. 

Neither of them say anything further on the matter until they hop into Gus' car at the end of the night. 

Whereupon Shawn decides to bring it up again, apropos of nothing. 

"You didn't mean that, right? Because you know, I am capable of a great many things and 'settling down' is only one of them."

Gus gives him a doubtful frown, lips pulled downward to display his utter disbelief. "Yeah, right, Shawn. As if."

"Yes if! I totally could!" Shawn protests, flapping about indignantly. 

"Sure, Shawn."

"Don't you 'Jan' me." 

Gus merely gifts him with a heavy side-eye.

"I'll have you know that I can be very settled. As settled as a... A sea turtle!" Shawn declares. 

"They migrate," Gus can't help but point out. 

"Well." Shawn is only stumped for a fraction of a second. "Yeah, but they always come back. Doesn't that count for anything? Besides, you were singing a different tune about _Mira_ being 'free-spirited' when you married _her_!" he argues, with what Gus feels is a gratuitous use of finger-quotes. 

Gus harrumphs. 

"You're right, you and Mira _are_ very alike-"

"Woah, that is not what I said-"

"-and marrying her was a huge mistake, Shawn! One of these days I'm gonna find a woman who wants to put down roots. Some people just can't do commitment," Gus tells himself as much as his best friend. 

Shawn blinks in surprise, before returning to his whining. "Hey, I've been here for two years now! Doesn't that demonstrate commitment?" 

"It demonstrates that you like people thinking you know everything." 

"That too," Shawn allows, and even though his tone is light, his gaze is oddly intent as he watches Gus' face. Gus isn't sure what he's looking for and returns his focus to the road. "Then there's nothing I could do to convince you?" 

Gus _tsks_ and gives Shawn a 'what do you think?' look. 

Shawn _tsks_ right back, and looks away briefly while muttering what sounds like ' _that's a shame'_ , before grinning brightly and yammering on about how Meryl Streep and ABBA were a match made in heaven for the rest of the journey. 

It's enough to lull Gus into a false sense of security. 

At least it is until a few weeks later, when he stumbles upon a confusing sight at the entrance of their office. 

"Uh, Shawn, why is that lady taking your flamingo out the door." 

It's less of a question and more of a demand. But Shawn seems unbothered. 

"Oh, I auctioned it off on Etsy." 

Gus looks around the office as he steps inside, taking in its stripped down surfaces and a cardboard box to the side where Shawn has clearly placed all of Gus' things. 

"What the hell is going on here?" 

"I've decided to abdicate Jackie Chan in that little airplane-boat-thing!" Shawn declares. 

"You mean emulate," Gus guesses. 

"I thought that was when you use the little red lights on the back of a car to say hi," Shawn argues. 

"No, that's indicate, and it's not-" Gus stops himself and silently questions why he ever lets Shawn drive the Blueberry. 

"Look, we got lucky!" Shawn hands him what looks like a contract, before whirling off into his usual tornado of movement. 

"Turns out Mrs Hannity - you know, the one from the catnapping case, where they were nabbing cats? - she's looking for a new place to run the city's annual cat show out of, and when I mentioned the office she jumped on it! So, that's the lease sorted, she'll be moving in next week. Oh, and she was so grateful to us she said that after she's done in two months she'll find new tenants!" 

Gus struggles to catch up, feeling strangely blindsided even though he should've seen this coming. Shouldn't have let himself become so accustomed to Shawn's presence in his life. 

"I- Thought that trip around the world was only supposed to take 80 days." 

Shawn stops long enough to shrug sheepishly. "Sure, but. You never know. I guess I'll see how it goes." 

"So... That's it then? You're leaving?" 

Shawn pats him on the shoulders and doesn't look him in the eye. "It was only a matter of time, right? All good things must come to an end." 

Shawn even looks sad, for a moment, before he flits off to gather his favorite pineapple paraphernalia from around the office.

Finally, his whirlwind of movement vanishes with him as he walks out the door with a brief hug, leaving Gus reeling. 

It's times like these that Gus regrets having a tempestuous, capricious force of nature for a best friend. 

There's only one person he knows who can truly sympathise. 

Mr Spencer looks at him in confusion when he answers the door. "Where's Shawn? You don't normally stop by without that barnacle." 

Then Mr Spencer examines Gus' facial expression and Gus doesn't know what he finds there, but the apple didn't fall far from the tree and he reaches the truth almost as quickly as Shawn would've. 

"He's gone, isn't he?" he gleans, a knowing look in his eye. 

Gus sighs, shoulders slumping.

Mr Spencer nods with pursed lips, and glances at the bottle he's holding. "Wanna come in for a beer?" 

Gus follows him inside, and leans against a counter once the promised alcohol has been handed to him. It's tempting to down the whole thing, but he restrains himself. For a few moments, anyway. 

"Any idea what set him off this time?" Mr Spencer prods, leaning against the counter across the way from him. 

Gus shrugs listlessly. "Never do." 

Mr Spencer raises an eyebrow at that. 

"Well, you must've had some idea in the past. It's usually his 'abandonment issues'." Mr Spencer doesn't use his fingers to imitate quotation marks the way Shawn would, but they're evident in his intonation. Gus would guess it's a phrase he got by way of Madeleine. "Like when you went to college."

Gus nearly does a spit-take, but thankfully, for the sake of his dignity and Mr Spencer's shirt, he has already swallowed the small sip he'd taken. "What does college have to do with anything?" 

Mr Spencer gives him a look that indicates he thinks Gus is an idiot, but that he's also under the false impression that he himself is polite and thus will refrain from saying so aloud.

"After everything with his mother, anytime it _seems_ like somebody _might_ leave him, he runs away. Ever since he was a kid. He's always been very attached to the people he cares about." Upon seeing the stricken look on Gus' face, he adds "I'm sure he'll be back." Then he pauses a moment in consideration. "Eventually."

He continues his terrible attempts at reassuring them both, but Gus begins to zone out. He wonders if this is what Shawn feels like every time the pieces begin to come together. He's having somewhat of a revelation. 

_gus, let's run away_

_i don't need anything. just you_

_right. sorry_

_sometimes i swear it's like that boy's_ _half in love with you_

_one of these days I'm gonna find a_ _woman_

_all good things must come to an end_

"Any idea where he might've gone?" Gus interjects, much to Mr Spencer's apparent relief. 

After taking in Gus' wide, pleading eyes, Mr Spencer puts down his beer and gestures towards the door. "No, but his apartment might be a good place to start." 

Too busy running out to his car, Gus misses the fact that Mr Spencer has crossed arms and a thoughtful look on his face as he stares after him. That would normally be something he'd find concerning. 

Luckily for Gus, Shawn has been as impulsive as ever, which means that he finds him in the middle of packing - which is going exactly as disastrously as he would've expected. 

The sight of Shawn in one of his stolen shirts - CENTRAL COAST PHARMA is emblazoned across the front - with rumpled hair and bloodshot eyes pulls at Gus' heartstrings. 

"You're running away," he pants in answer to Shawn's baffled look. 

"You ran away first," Shawn pouts. 

"Yeah," Gus admits, causing Shawn to look surprised, and somewhat mollified.

They're trapped in an odd silence for a moment, like flies in molasses. 

"So, is this the part where you play Peter Gabriel, or what?" 

Gus winces. "I left my boombox at home."

"Damn it, Gus. We could've had it all!" Shawn complains. 

"I could always use my phone?" Gus suggests. 

Shawn looks like he's considering it. "Doesn't carry quite the same veritas," he decides. 

"You mean gravitas," Gus corrects. 

"I've heard-" Shawn begins to argue, but Gus cuts him off by grabbing the collar of his shirt to pull him in for a kiss, whereupon he realises that there may be more benefits to changing up their relationship than he thought. 

Shawn is grinning when their lips part. "Took you long enough." 

"Don't start with me, Shawn," Gus retorts, reeling him back in for more. 

**A few hours later**

"What are we gonna do about the office?"

"Move back in after Mrs Hannity leaves?"

"That works. Hopefully there won't be too much cat hair."

"Mm, and maybe it'll snow in hell." 

"When did you become so _laissez faire_ about bringing up hell anyway?"

"You mean _au fait_."

"Why would I be talking about a nanny Gus, don't be ridiculous." 

"That's _au pair, S_ hawn." 

"I've heard it both-" 

Gus rolls over and kisses him again to shut him up, which is clearly a winning strategy. The real question is, is it worth all the inevitable strife Shawn will undoubtedly put him through? 

_Yeah,_ Gus decides when Shawn runs his tongue along the seam of his mouth, and shivers as Gus runs a palm down the centre of his back. _Definitely worth it._

**Author's Note:**

> There is not enough Shus content on the internet, which is deeply unfortunate because I love them. But the content that does exist is fantastic, so, uh, sorry if this isn’t on par. I tried, but forgive me if it’s terrible.
> 
> Don't drink and drive, kids! (Gus only had a few sips in this fic, but the full bottle would likely have taken him over the limit). 
> 
> Comments are love, comments are life.


End file.
